Reykjavík Grapevine - jan. 2020, Side 16

16The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 01— 2020
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BREWERY BY
THE HARBOUR
LUNCH
BRUNCH
DINNER
BREWERY
TOUR

2 20
SONG OF THE YEAR: ‘HATRI! MUN SIGRA’ BY HATARI
Words: Hannah Jane Cohen
One couch. Three banners. Seven
seconds of live television. And
with that, the leather-clad dooms-
day anticapitalist BDSM water-
hawking scam artist tycoons—we
could go on—Hatari, made history
under their mantra of “Hatri!
mun sigra,” as they brought the
world’s attention to Israel’s illegal
occupation of Palestine at the 2019
Eurovision Song Contest.
PALESTINE
“We had a couple of banners.
Matthías put one in his pants, but
I just put them in my bag,” vocal-
ist Klemens Hannigan remembers,
discussing the lead up to their
on-screen protest. “There was a
security check before going into
the ‘bubble,’ or the backstage, but
no one ever checked my bag.”
He laughs, almost incredu-
lously—apparently it’s a lot easier
to pull an international political
stunt than you’d think—and is
quickly joined by the aforemen-
tioned vocalist Matthías Tryggvi
Haraldsson.
“I think if they would have
checked the bag we would have
been in trouble. It wasn’t a very
good strategy,” Matthías admits.
His voice, a low baritone, is so
deadpan that it’s often difficult
to tell whether he’s being serious,
sarcastic, or sardonic. “We could
have maybe discussed the flag-
smuggling-strategy beforehand,”
he adds, slightly smirking.
HYPOCRISY
& LIVE TV
Regardless, the band’s non-strat-
egy worked, and when given their
Eurovision moment on live televi-
sion during the voting, Matthías
held up a banner in the Palestinian
colours while Klemens gave two
peace signs behind it. The visual
became iconic and the global reac-
tion instantaneous.
“The first thing that happened
is just this frantic booing from
thousands of people. 8,000
people just releasing their anger,”
Matthías relays. At the same time,
security guards confiscated the
banners.
“It goes to show the power of
live TV is just so insane,” he says.
“We had been bringing up topics
related to Palestine for weeks in
interviews but it didn’t carry the
weight until seconds on live TV.
That was it for so many people.
For us, it was the whole thing. Live
TV is a powerful thing, especially
when there are people watching.”
For Matthías, Eurovision’s
response, most of all, revealed
some stark hypocrisies. “We found
it strange that, from a Eurovi-
sion rules perspective, there were
all kinds of flags being waved,”
he explains. “We waved the trans
flag and the pride flag. There were
Norwegians waving the Sami flag,
which is a very political thing to
do. So why is this where the rules
are broken? Obviously, in the
context, it carries so much weight,
but hopefully, sometime in the
future, it won’t.” He pauses. “One
state. Two state. No state.”
EUROPE WILL
CRUMBLE
While their Eurovision entry
might be what Hatari is most
known for the months follow-
ing have proved that the band is
anything but a one-note gimmick,
and the year ahead is shaping up to
cement their legacy.
“We’re sending in another
song,” Klemens says simply, his
face blank, when asked about
Hatari’s plans for 2020. Then he
grins. “No, we’re not. We’re releas-
ing an album. We’re going on tour,
Europe Will Crumble.” Matthías
nods. He pauses; the smirk slowly
re-emerging on his face. “Where
we will observe the crumbling of
Europe along with our guests.”
“Live TV is a powerful
thing, especially when
there are people watching.”